SumUp
SumUp is a London-based fintech providing card readers, POS, invoicing, business banking, and embedded financial services to over 4 million small merchants across 38 global markets, with a transaction-fee business model and an embedded finance expansion strategy.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2012
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What SumUp does
SumUp is a London-headquartered financial technology company founded in 2012 that provides integrated payment acceptance and commerce tools to over 4 million merchants across 38 markets. Its core platform combines proprietary hardware (SumUp Go and Solo Lite card readers, SumUp Terminal handheld POS, Self-Service Kiosk), software (POS register, Business App, online store builder), and a stack of digital payment products including Invoices, Payment Links, and Online Payments. Around this core, SumUp layers business banking (Business Account), merchant cash advance backed by a $100M Victory Park Capital credit facility, and — most recently — embedded accounting via Sage (Making Tax Digital for Income Tax) and embedded investing via Upvest (euro money market funds from €1). The company operates as a regulated FCA Authorised Electronic Money Institution in the UK and has built critical payout infrastructure with Deutsche Bank covering over 90% of transactions.
SumUp's revenue model is anchored on transaction-based take rates: 1.69% per transaction on the pay-as-you-go tier and 0.99% on the Payments Plus subscription at £19/month, supplemented by hardware sales (e.g., Solo Lite at £25), merchant cash advance economics, and emerging embedded financial services revenue. Go-to-market is hybrid: self-serve product-led growth drives SMB acquisition, while dedicated enterprise sales, exclusive partnerships (e.g., Gong cha across 400+ Americas stores), and UK retail distribution (Toolstation, Screwfix, Ryman, Currys) handle mid-market and enterprise segments. The company also extends reach through OEM integrations including Apple Tap to Pay on iPhone across nine European countries. Disclosed total funding exceeds $2.4 billion across multiple rounds, with the most recent at approximately $1.6 billion in May 2024 led by Goldman Sachs; SumUp is currently preparing for a potential London Stock Exchange IPO at a reported $10-15 billion valuation.
The competitive position rests on scale breadth — 38 markets and 4 million merchants create distribution advantages difficult to replicate — combined with an ecosystem lock-in strategy that ties payments to banking, accounting, lending, and investing. Recent strategic moves emphasize upmarket and embedded finance expansion (Mexico and Canada launches, Sage and Upvest partnerships, Deutsche Bank real-time payouts), alongside enterprise penetration (Gong cha). SumUp's 2021 acquisition of FiveStars for $317M and earlier Tiller acquisition underpin its POS and loyalty capabilities. The company is headquartered in London with operational hubs in Berlin and Dublin, employs between 1,001 and 5,000 people, and has been led by CEO Andrew Helms with Daniel Klein as co-founder and CEO at the operating entity level.
SumUp firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SumUp
- Legal name
- SumUp Payments Limited
- Website
- https://sumup.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2012
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- SumUp is a London-based fintech providing card readers, POS, invoicing, business banking, and embedded financial services to over 4 million small merchants across 38 global markets, with a transaction-fee business model and an embedded finance expansion strategy.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SumUp industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Processing & Merchant Services
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)
- akta.pro primary industry
- POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure (FSAGABAO)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE), Payouts, Disbursements & Mass Payments Infrastructure (FSAGABAN), Dispute, Chargeback & Refund Automation (FSAGABAI), Expense Management & Employee Reimbursements (FSAGAJAE)
Keywords
Where SumUp is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
SumUp business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Transaction Fees: Primary revenue stream from processing payment transactions. Transaction fees of 1.69% for pay-as-you-go model and 0.99% for subscription model. Revenue accrues per transaction processed across all merchants.
- Subscription Plans: Payments Plus subscription at £19/month offering lower 0.99% transaction fee. Monthly recurring revenue from merchants opting for reduced transaction rates.
- Hardware Sales: Sale of card readers and POS hardware including Solo Lite (£25), SumUp Terminal, and SumUp Go card reader. One-time hardware revenue from device purchases.
- Merchant Cash Advances: Short-term financing product based on merchant payment history. $100M credit facility from Victory Park Capital supports expansion of cash advance product. Flexible repayment tied to daily card sales.
- Embedded Financial Services: Money market fund investing feature generating revenue through investment platform participation. Partnership with Upvest enables offering euro-denominated money market funds to merchants.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Pay-as-you-go at 1.69% transaction fee with £0 monthly cost |
| Hybrid | Monthly | Payments Plus subscription at 0.99% transaction fee with £19 monthly cost |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels5 records
SumUp product offering
Product offeringCore offering
SumUp is a financial technology company that provides card payment acceptance solutions, point-of-sale (POS) hardware, and integrated business management tools for small merchants. Its product suite spans card readers, mobile tap-to-pay, terminals, self-service kiosks, online checkout, invoicing, business banking, and cash advance products, enabling merchants to accept payments and run back-office operations from a single platform.
Product overview
SumUp is a global fintech company operating a platform-plus-modules architecture that provides an integrated suite of payment acceptance and financial management tools for small and micro businesses. The core platform encompasses card readers (including SumUp Go and Solo Lite), Tap to Pay, Point of Sale register, and the SumUp Business Account, which together form the primary revenue-generating infrastructure. Around this core, SumUp layers digital payment products including Invoices, Online Payments, Payment Links, Online Store, Bookings, and Order & Pay for omnichannel commerce. Financial management is addressed through Cash Advance, Expenses, and Making Tax Digital (Sage-powered accounting and tax compliance). Growth and retention tools include Gift Cards and the Loyalty program. The SumUp Terminal targets hospitality venues with table-side service capabilities, while the Self-service Kiosk addresses quick-service restaurants. The ecosystem is reinforced by partnerships (Apple Tap to Pay, Form3 SEPA payments, Upvest investing, Sage accounting), serving over four million merchants across 38 markets.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Card Readers
Quantifiable outcome
- 50% call containment and 23% cost savings through Five9 AI implementation
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use SumUp
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
SumUp technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability2 records
Feature6 records
SumUp partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- UpvestcorePartnership with Berlin-based Upvest to launch embedded investing feature allowing SumUp's four million merchants to invest idle cash in euro-denominated money market funds starting from €1. Powered by Upvest's investment API infrastructure handling order execution, custody, regulatory reporting, and tax processing. Initially launching in Germany before rolling out across Europe and UK.
- SagecorePartnership with Sage to launch embedded accounting offering within SumUp platform, powered by Sage's embedded accounting technology. Helps UK sole traders comply with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax regulations. Solution automatically records income and expenses in real time using payment, invoice, expense, and banking data from SumUp ecosystem.
- Form3coreExpanded strategic partnership extending Form3's payments platform to support European payment schemes including SEPA Instant, SEPA Credit Transfer, and SEPA Direct Debit. SumUp consolidates multiple payment capabilities through single provider, simplifying payments infrastructure while building on existing UK payments partnership.
- Deutsche BankcorePartnership with Deutsche Bank establishing real-time payout infrastructure covering over 90% of SumUp merchant transactions. Enables instant access to funds even during weekends and holidays. Represents critical infrastructure for merchant experience.
- Gong chamajorExclusive partnership with bubble tea giant Gong cha to enhance digital operations across more than 400 stores in the Americas. Developing integrated platform streamlining POS, kiosks, mobile ordering, and loyalty programs. Supports Gong cha's expansion in North and Latin America.
- ApplecorePartnership for Apple Tap to Pay on iPhone feature, enabling SumUp merchants to accept contactless payments using only their iPhone without additional hardware. Feature works with contactless cards, Apple Pay, and digital wallets. Available across nine European countries.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves10 records
Expansion highlights9 records
SumUp competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Block (Square): Block's Square is the most direct competitor to SumUp, offering card readers, POS software, and embedded financial services to SMBs across the US, Europe, and Australia. Overlap is highest in card-present acceptance and seller software for micro-merchants.
- Stripe: Stripe is a global payments and financial infrastructure platform increasingly competing in SMB POS and in-person acceptance via Stripe Terminal and Stripe Reader, directly overlapping with SumUp's card reader and integrated payments offering.
- Toast: Toast is a restaurant-focused POS and payments platform that, like SumUp's SumUp Terminal, serves hospitality merchants with integrated hardware, software, and payments. It is the leading vertical POS competitor in SumUp's higher-value hospitality segment.
- PayPal (incl. Zettle/iZettle): PayPal's acquisition of Zettle (formerly iZettle) made PayPal a direct card-reader and SMB POS competitor to SumUp in Europe and the Americas, offering very similar mobile card readers, POS software, and merchant services.
- Lightspeed Commerce: Lightspeed provides cloud POS, payments, and commerce solutions to retail and hospitality SMBs across Europe and North America, competing with SumUp Terminal and SumUp's vertical-specific POS solutions in restaurants, retail, and quick-service.
- Clover (Fiserv): Clover, owned by Fiserv, is a POS and merchant services platform for SMBs that competes head-to-head with SumUp's hardware-plus-software stack, particularly in the US and UK restaurant and retail segments.
Broad incumbents
- Adyen: Adyen is a global payments platform serving enterprise and large platforms; while not focused on micro-merchants, it competes for mid-market and enterprise merchants that SumUp targets via its enterprise sales motion and integrations like Form3/SEPA.
- Worldline: Worldline is a large European payment processor and acquirer with broad SMB and enterprise coverage; it overlaps with SumUp's European merchant acquiring and SEPA payment processing, especially following SumUp's expanded Form3 partnership.
Emerging players
- Mollie: Mollie is a European payments and merchant services provider for SMBs, offering card-present and online acceptance plus financial tools that increasingly overlap with SumUp's all-in-one commerce platform in the same geographies.
- Revolut Business: Revolut Business bundles business accounts, payment acceptance, and embedded financial services for SMBs in Europe, increasingly competing with SumUp's Business Account, Expenses, and investing modules for the same micro-merchant customer.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
SumUp social profiles
Digital presenceSumUp compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
SumUp financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SumUp leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
SumUp subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
SumUp funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds17 records
Investors38 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SumUp M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A7 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SumUp
What does SumUp do?
SumUp is a financial technology company that provides card payment acceptance solutions, point-of-sale (POS) hardware, and integrated business management tools for small merchants. Its product suite spans card readers, mobile tap-to-pay, terminals, self-service kiosks, online checkout, invoicing, business banking, and cash advance products, enabling merchants to accept payments and run back-office operations from a single platform.
Is SumUp a public or private company?
SumUp is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was SumUp founded?
SumUp was founded in 2012. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is SumUp based?
SumUp is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does SumUp make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Transaction Fees are the primary driver. The others are subscription Plans, hardware Sales, merchant Cash Advances and embedded Financial Services.
Who are SumUp's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Block (Square), Stripe, Toast, PayPal (incl. Zettle/iZettle), Lightspeed Commerce and Clover (Fiserv). Broad incumbents are Adyen and Worldline. Emerging players are Mollie and Revolut Business.
Does SumUp have an API?
Yes. SumUp offers a developer API and SDK for building on its platform. The developer portal (developer.sumup.com) provides API documentation, code samples, and integration tools for partners and developers to build custom payment solutions. Developer documentation is at developer.sumup.com.
What industry is SumUp in?
SumUp's product category is Payment Processing & Merchant Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGABAO, POS, SoftPOS & In-Person Acceptance Infrastructure, with a secondary code of FSAGABAE, Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure. Its NAICS code is 52232.